Thursday, 14 July 2016

Is Your Legacy Software Holding You Back?

For many businesses, legacy software is a
core component of their business infrastructure. Often, outdated and obsolete
applications are entrusted with some of the most critical tasks that the
business undertakes. Providing there’s support for a legacy system, and an
understanding of the risks, there’s nothing wrong with continuing down this
path particularly as many legacy systems benefit from stable platforms due
mainly to their limitations and lack of flexibility.

But what happens if you lose the one
support engineer that knows how to manage these systems or support is
terminated as the product is deemed EOL. And what about that lack of
flexibility could your legacy system be holding you back?

Catastrophic Consequences

Our banking system is built on a foundation
of legacy software. Many of the applications used to process transactions were
coded more than four decades ago. As banks start to digitally transform their
businesses, and as consumers rely on more on electronic access, some of these
applications are creaking under the strain.

RBS has suffered a brace of IT problems,
including downtime that has locked customers out for days on end. In December
2013, RBS customers were unable
to use their debit and credit cards for hours on Cyber Monday - the busiest
online shopping day of the year. This is one very clear example of legacy IT
being unfit for purpose, and putting the core business at further risk.

The lesson here is that legacy systems need
to be well maintained, with a full support package of maintenance with skills
on tap and a very low level of understanding in order to achieve any kind of
integration, if achievable at all, required to deliver to the demands of todays
market. If this doesn’t happen, they are at best a ticking time bomb at worst a
dinosaur, huge, cumbersome, eating up resources. The least agile solution you
can endeavour to utilise and meet the latest consumer demands.

Unlocking the Potential of Transformation

Automation and transformation requires
different systems to be joined so that data can flow freely between them.
Often, it isn’t possible to integrate a legacy system; either it isn’t designed
for integration, or the process of integration would expose the legacy system
to risk.

As such, legacy systems can hold back
attempts to digitally transform a business, and they prevent it from exploring
opportunities like process automation.

When you have one system that is isolated –
often by necessity – you have a situation where data is going to be siloed,
which also introduces compliance and data quality problems. There are three
routes out of this trap: spend money on replacing the systems you have, migrate
the systems to a new platform, or spend money recruiting people with the rare
technical skills to continue as you are, treading water and getting left behind
with the service levels and cost savings your competitors will be equipped to
achieve with a more agile solution.

Embracing Change

In July 2015, Microsoft discontinued
support for Windows Server 2003. Businesses had to decide whether to pay for
expensive, customised support packages, or invest that money into new systems.

Smart businesses use this as a driver for
innovation. Many upgraded to Server 2008 or 2012, and treated the expense as an
opportunity to improve the application, while others used the situation as an
opportunity to move systems into the cloud.

Another group of businesses chose to place
servers in a quarantined state. While this is certainly the cheapest solution
on paper, those businesses continue to be frozen in time, unable to take
advantage of transformation opportunities.

Retaining knowledge, and acquiring new
skills, is a tall order. We’d certainly argue that digital transformation pays
dividends long term. If you’re at a crossroads, contact OneFit for advice about
your next move…it may not be a scary as you think with expertise in the latest
technologies whilst understanding and able to offer quick routes for data
transfers wherever possible to minimise the impact of implementation you may be
surprised how quickly you can get an ROI from taking that important and
innovate step into the future.